The new laboratory is currently set at being constructed on Lancaster Road in Leicester, behind the fire station and houses. It is scaled at being 4,000 square meters at a cost of £15million and will contain a variety of different species and strains of animals.

Plans to build the new laboratory have been shelved twice in the past, due to difficulties with the planning process, however the University of Leicester are trying for a third time, with building work having started in mid-April 2010.

Locals have voiced opposition to the new laboratory, as have those concerned with the rise of animal experimentation on both ethical and scientific grounds and those both working and studying at the university.